Group photo of 6 envoys with Marcos altered
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
A Facebook page posted an altered photo falsely showing six nonresident ambassadors in a group photo with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Official photos and video from Malacañang show Marcos meeting the ambassadors separately during the presentation of their credentials. The ambassadors’ faces also look markedly different from those in the altered image.
The altered photo was uploaded on April 15 by the Facebook page Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon with the caption:
THE BEST PRESIDENT 🇵🇭❤️🔥✌️#PBBM #BagongPilipinas #PBBMTheWorkingPresident
The image contained the text:
MGA AMBASSADOR NG IBA’T IBANG BANSA, PINUNTAHAN SI BBM (Ambassadors from different countries visited BBM)
The ambassadors were Ermal Muca of Albania, Ramil Abil oglu Rzayev of Azerbaijan, Gbolie Desire Wulfran Ipo of Côte d’Ivoire, Hreinn Palsson of Iceland, Tornike Nozadze of Georgia and Ali Mohamed Abukar of Somalia.
A Radio Television Malacanang video shows Marcos meeting each ambassador one at a time on April 14. Original photos posted by the Presidential Communications Office on Facebook also show pictures of each ambassador beside the president and other staff.
Marcos with the six nonresident ambassadors: (L-R) Ermal Muca of Albania, Ramil Abil oglu Rzayev of Azerbaijan, Gbolie Desire Wulfran Ipo of Côte d’Ivoire, Hreinn Palsson of Iceland, Tornike Nozadze of Georgia and Ali Mohamed Abukar of Somalia. Source: PCO
The altered image itself contains visual inconsistencies typical of AI-generated images.
The presidential seal is distorted. The words around it should read, “Sagisag ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas.” The original photos show the Philippine flag and the presidential flag, while the manipulated photo features two Philippine flags.
The country flags at the bottom of the altered photo were incorrect, mislabeled or mismatched with the ambassadors shown.
The faces of the ambassadors in the altered image differ from those in the PCO photos. Face Pair comparisons between the official photos and the altered image returned “no match” results for all six ambassadors, with similarity scores ranging from 35% to 46%.
Side-by-side comparison of the original photos sourced from PCO (left column) and the altered versions (right). From top to bottom: Ermal Muca of Albania, Ramil Abil oglu Rzayev of Azerbaijan, Gbolie Desire Wulfran Ipo of Côte d’Ivoire, Hreinn Palsson of Iceland, Tornike Nozadze of Georgia and Ali Mohamed Abukar of
Somalia.
AI detection tools Hive AI and WasItAI flagged the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated.
As of writing, the Facebook post has garnered over 4,600 reactions, 981 comments and 388 shares.
Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon regularly posts updates about Marcos in a format similar to news cards and labels itself as “Journalist.”
The page has more than 139,000 followers and has changed its name three times since its creation on April 7, 2021. (AA)
